St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-30

is constructing the cdDle line on fOurtn
street has been working two gangs of
men. One gang has worked by day and
another by night with view of hurry
ing the work forward as fast as possible.
During this time very satisfactory
progress was made on the work, and
many hoped the line would be COM
pleted in time to be used this winter.
1t is feared. however, that this hope has
been nipped in the bud. The cold chill
that fell upon the work last Monday
causes many to shake their heads and
of them very wisely say that they do
not believe it will be completed until it
is finished.
1t seems now that there is certainty
of new opera house. The scheme is in
the hands of some of the best business
men in st. Paul, who have determined
that the time is come for definite and de-
cided action, which will give st. Paul
large, modern, firSt-claSS structure, that
shall be an ornament to the city as well
as Il convenience. 1t is claimed that
though we have a very beautiful opera
house at the present time, it is not too
much to say that the town has grown so
large since that structure was built that
another one is needed, and that if the
foundations for one are put III this fall
by the time the edifice is completed
there will be pressing necessity for it.
At any rate, whether one is imperatively
needed or not, some of the leading bust
ness men in the city have determined
that one shall be built, and that, too,
Immediately.
That the building may be commenced
as soon as possible, they have secured
the northwest corner of Minnesota and
SfrpQtS from
York Life Insurance company building,
This property belongs to FitZhugh Lee,
or to the syndicate of which he is
member, that was out here last spring.
While here, they bought about 81, 100000
worth of real estate, of which this prop
erty on the northwest corner of Sixth
and Minnesota formed part. A COM
mittee of gentlemen, headed by j. W.
McClung, has been sent down to Rich
mond to confer with Gen. Lee and the
other gentlemen of the syndicate as to
what can be done.
-
These gentlemen go to Richmond pre-
pared and authorized to make the fol-
lowing proposition, to wit:
That the ground shall be leased for
ten years at an agreed rental; that at
the end of the ten years the parties
shall buy the ground at the agreed price
VI SS,UUU pei IIOuI lOOU, lllttt Lee anu
his syndicate shall take $4,000 of stock
in the organization that is to build the
new opera house. If this proposition is
accepted, the work of putting
in the foundations this fall viii
be commenced Immediately, so as to
have everything ready to commence
work on the superstructure early in the
spring. In case Gen. Lee and his friends
do not accept the terms proposed, the
I,ox- l.
have another piece OF ground in view
that is equally as desirable, and will i'm
mediately close the pending arrange
mentS for it.
jackson street, which has been torn I'D
all summer, is at last beginning to look
ike well regulated thorOughfare.
Early in the summer contractor COM
menced work Oh it at the corner of Tenth
and continued it to Pearl street. Of
course, before the contractor took hold
OF it the street railway company had to
remove their rails and the water pipes
and gas pipes had to be dug up and
fixed for the new grading OF the street
within the points named. When the
graders took hold of it they cut it down
in front of Capt. Blakeley's residence
several feet, and SO along in a greater or
less degree as far as Pearl street, so that
bic. The street is greatly improved now
that the work is about concluded. The
experience. however, has been a
very unpleasant one for citizens
and for months they have been
forced, through this improvement
off onto other streets, and been COM
PEELED to go good distance out of their
way. Stone sidewalks are being laid on
both sides of the street and it will soon
q oil of vr,b nh
the people will all be truly thankful.
Prince street, the street that runs
along south of the Northern Pacific
headquarters building from Broadway
east, is to be paved with granite blocks,
similar to those used by the street rail-
way company between the tracks and
rails. There is vast amount of very
heavy travel on that street, and it has
been for long time in exceedingly bad
condition and has caused great deal of
wear and tear of hOrSefleSh and all
kinds of vehicles that attempted to go
over it.
1t is curious to remark how the tide
GIBBS and flows in the real estate bust
ness and how easily and readily it is
taken up and laid down. A few months
ago everybody was dropping everything
else and jumping into the realty bust
ness. Men that were making little
more than good living at many kinds
of business saw visions of decidedly
golden hue. Everybody in real estate
was getting rich; very rich, very fast.
Small grocers abandoned their stores,
shoe dealers left their regular trade and
everybody hurried into real estate as
rapidly as possible All along Fourth
street, from Jackson to Minnesota
street, on Sixth street in the region of
the Ryan, on Minnesota, Third, Seventh
and other streets, every little room and
structure that could be utilized was
turned into real estate office. In a
number of cases small cheap frame
buildings that served for a shelter to a
cut up into real estate offices. ALI the
capital required was city map, chair
and table. These secured the occu-
pant was ready for business. How they
did swarm into the business!
~
And now how they have swarmed out
OF 1T. The city map has been removed.
The little table, and the cane bottomed
chair, in which the real estate dealer
formerly leaned back in well affected
calm composure and indifferently
doomed the property he had for sale,
have all disappeared. The signs have
been taken down and the prOprietOrs
have departed. Some who rented their
little buildings at enormous sums were
successful in collecting their rents.
Others were not SO successful, and the
latter look in vain for their money. The
older firms that have done business for
years are at the old places and are still
engaged in buying and selling real estate
very much after the old style, but the
gentlemen who jumped into the bust
ness without any knowledge of it, just
because they thought they saw chance